11 charter school authorizers risk state suspension for deficiencies

Eleven charter school authorizers — including one of the biggest in the state — are at risk of suspension, the Michigan Department of Education said today.

Suspension would mean the authorizers — which in Michigan are universities, school districts and community colleges — would not be able to authorize any new charters in Michigan. Combined, the authorizers have 124 of the nearly 300 charters in the state.

Grand Valley, with 47 charters according to education department data, is the second-largest authorizer in Michigan, based on the number of charters. Tim Wood, who runs Grand Valley’s charter office, said he was surprised it was on the list, especially because a 2012 study commissioned by the state ranked Grand Valley as the top authorizer in Michigan. That report, though, was based on 2011-12 data and used different methodology.

He said Grand Valley is scheduled to meet with the Education Department next week to discuss its schools’ academic results.

“We’ll find out what the metrics are. We want to work with the department. We want to be in compliance,” Wood said. “We’re operating under a previous set of expectations. We’re not happy to be on the list, period.”

The authorizers at risk of being suspended were cited for several reasons, including poor academic performance, budget deficits, or if one or more failed to meet transparency requirements.

To determine academic performance, the Education Department combined academic data for all students enrolled in each of the authorizer’s schools as if they were enrolled in a single school, then compared their performance to schools statewide. Authorizers whose combined student performance put them at or below the 10th percentile were considered at risk.

Dan Quisenberry, president of the Michigan Association of Public School Academies, a charter advocacy organization, said he supports Flanagan exercising his ability to suspend poor authorizers, but not the way he’s doing it.

“It is a random ‘back of the napkin’ measurement concept introduced today for the very first time that confuses the issue, misleads the media, ignores the law and aims to appease partisan motivations.”

MAPSA plans a news conference this morning, ahead of a state Board of Education meeting in which members are to consider comprehensive changes to the state’s charter law.

Greg Richmond, president and CEO of the National Association of Charter School Authorizers, applauded Flanagan’s move, saying, “We support authorizer accountability systems that look at student proficiency, student improvement, fiscal viability and legal compliance.”

Nick Oshelski, who runs the charter office at Lake Superior, said the Education Department’s announcement was “really a surprise” but that he was already dealing with the issues raised by the department: improving the academics at two of its schools, and reminding eight schools to post their budgets on their websites as required by law.

“I feel we’re doing what we need to do make sure our academies are successful academically,” Oshelski said.

Geoff Larcom, a spokesman for Eastern Michigan, said the university isn’t satisified with the academic performance of the university’s 12 charters, but has been working toward improvements.

“Those steps include ‘putting schools on notice’ via an abbreviated contract renewal term (instead of the standard five-year renewal), replacing school board members, and providing additional professional development support to those schools,” Larcom said.

At the Macomb Intermediate School District, there was puzzlement over its inclusion on the list. The ISD only operates one charter — Arts Academy in the Woods — and just 45 students at the school took the Michigan Merit Exam this past spring.

The school, Superintendent Mike DeVault said, “is representative of a pretty good program.”

The 11 authorizers have until Oct. 22 to address deficiencies before Flanagan makes a final decision in November.

“If an authorizer were to be suspended, it would not be a death sentence, and we’re not closing down their existing charter schools,” Flanagan said in the news release. “They just won’t be able to open any new charters until their deficiencies are fixed and the academic outcomes of their schools are improved.”

Gary Naeyaert, executive director of the Great Lakes Education Project, a charter lobbying group, said “all of us agree with the superintendent if he wants to up the ante of quality schools and better authorizers,” but not in this form.

“None of what the superintendent is doing in this trial balloon … has anything to do with the issues that were deemed important in the Free Press series.”